The dressing of the warp with the Tubular rigid heddle is easier and faster than with the traditional heddles. Because it's an open comb, the warping and threading operations are combined in one; this means that, in practical terms, the work for preparing the warp and dressing it on the loom is reduced to less than half, both from a point of view of time and effort.

"When the loom is ready, also the goats are able to weave" 

(Arab proverb)

Who weaves knows that the difficult part of the work - ungrateful, long and tiring - is not weaving, but the preparation of the warp and its loading on the loom. With the Tubular rigid heddle the warping phase is easier, less tiring and also incredibly faster. This is because its structural features allow a direct loading warping, a system that allows you to prepare the warp, to load it on the loom and to insert it in the comb in one operation. Warping and threading are combined in one: the warp is prepared at the same time as the assignment of the threads to the heddles. In other words, it is no longer necessary, as for traditional looms, to prepare the warp on a warper, to make the intersection, to place the warp on the loom, to cut the threads and to insert them one by one onto the comb and tie them to the beams. With the Tubular rigid heddle looms all this is combined in a unique operation, easy and intuitive, faster and with less waste of yarn. All this without the need to cut the threads.

By not trapping the warp threads, the Tubular rigid heddle can work coupled with additional heddles, called "small heddles", to produce woven fabrics.

As the name suggests, the "small heddles" are small heddles used to make woven fabrics with a design.

Almost all pre-industrial textile cultures, alongside the basic heddles, have used and still use, according to the desired pattern, a certain number of additional small heddles to embellish their fabrics. For example, the looms used in the Indochinese area to weave the Sari silk garment can employ more than two thousand small heddles, while in Sub-Saharan Africa only a few of them are used.

Working with the small heddles on table looms was impossible until recent times. The traditional rigid heddle, by trapping half of the warp threads in a loop, was making impossible this kind of production and it was therefore necessary to equip large special looms (see the pictures above for some examples). Today, thanks to the patent of the Tubular rigid heddle, it is possible to work with the small heddles even on small table looms, making this technique available to everyone with considerable savings in space and money. How is it possible? Because of the simple feature of being an open comb that does not trap the warp threads.

The Tubular rigid heddle looms in our catalogue are suitable to be equipped with a maximum of 18 small heddles each.

If the Tubular rigid heddle is particularly suitable for those approaching the art of weaving, it is at the same time recommended also for those who want to experiment with more complex techniques.

All you need is only a flat surface and some makeshift material.

You can use your kitchen table, a public bench of your town, a school book etc. There are no limits!

You can find a few suggestions in the following videos.

If you find new ideas I would love it if you could send me photographs of your "domestic loom".

Compared to a traditional rigid heddle it is less tiring from a physical point of view. The Tubular rigid heddle is always resting on a flat surface and does not need to be kept raised to the disadvantage of arms and shoulders. The same thing is true when opening the warp shed: you only need to turn the Tubular rigid heddle backwards and forwards with no effort, also by using one hand only.